State Sends Help With Overwhelming Demand For Coronavirus Tests

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL — As coronavirus cases continue to reach record numbers in Hillsborough County, the state of Florida is sending additional medical personnel to help with the overwhelming demand for tests at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

The stadium was the first and continues to be the largest public testing site in the county, according to the county's emergency management director Tim Dudley.

Dudley told members of the Hillsborough County Emergency Policy Group Thursday that the state will provide additional medical personnel at the testing site starting Tuesday. He said this will allow the county to offer tests to about 1,000 people a day at the stadium five days a week.

Dudley said the demand for testing at the county's seven public testing sites has increased dramatically in the past two weeks.

Graphic courtesy City of Tampa

An online testing reservation form was launched Thursday morning and had been clicked on 6,000 times when the EPG meeting began at 1:30 p.m. that day. Dudley said the county also launched a new telephone line for people requesting tests last week (888-513-6321) because the original test request line wasn't able to handle the "unprecedented" volume of calls.

Eighty to 100 additional call-takers have been brought on board to answer calls to the new telephone line.

Dudley told the EPG that, in the past week, positive cases among those age 15 to 24 years old have increased 202 percent. The overall number of positive cases in the past week increased by 2,619, a 61 percent increase, and the average number of positive cases per day increased by 35 percent, from 275 to 373.

Hospitalizations in Hillsborough County for the coronavirus have increased about 36 percent — from 189 to 257.

Graphic courtesy Hillsborough County Government

At Monday's EPG meeting, half a dozen emergency room doctors, epidemiologists and other health officials from Hillsborough County hospitals and the Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida warned EPG members that the rising number of people contracting the coronavirus could "overrun our health care systems" if measures aren't put in place to reduce the spread.

They said hospitals have seen a 4 percent increase in admissions since June 20. That includes a 23 percent increase in people ranging from 25 to 34 years old, the largest number of hospitalizations in this age group since the pandemic was declared.

Total hospitalizations for the coronavirus increased from 173 on June 15 to 217 on June 21, and the number of intensive care patients increased from 40 to 44 during the same period.

TGH emergency room physician Dr. Jason Wilson said there's been a noticeable shift in the age of the patients.

With the opening of bars and entertainment venues in June, Wilson said the median age of the patients has dropped by half. They're now mostly in their 30s and a growing number have no pre-existing health problems, he said.

"We have a rapidly escalating epidemic here in the area," he said.

Dr. Charles Lockwood, dean of the Morsani College of Medicine at USF, said cities and counties that have mandated face masks have experienced a 2 percent decrease in the number of positive patients within two weeks.

"It (the coronavirus) is unprecedented in the history of medicine," he said. "The coronavirus is twice as infectious as influenza and about 20 times more lethal."

A survey by TGH and the College of Medicine of those who tested positive for the coronavirus showed that 12.5 percent consistently wore masks while 87.5 percent never wore masks.

"Infectious airborne particles are released into the air by asymptomatic people when they're breathing or speaking," said Seetha Lakshmi, an infectious disease specialist at the Morsani College of Medicine and an epidemiologist at Tampa General Hospital.

A simple cloth mask has been shown to significantly reduce the number of airborne particles emitted by asymptomatic people, she said. More importantly, she said a cloth face mask worn by a person who is not infected with the coronavirus prevents them from inhaling infectious particles.

Several residents spoke against the mandatory use of face masks, saying they may compromise a person's natural immune system and increase the risk of infection by forcing people to breathe in more carbon dioxide and limit their oxygen intake.

However, the National Institutes of Health said the amount of carbon dioxide inhaled while wearing a mask is negligible. On the other hand, NIH studies have shown that masks reduce the risk of breathing in respiratory droplets spread by an asymptomatic person.

When the pandemic was declared in February, the World Health Organization said there wasn't enough data to show masks prevented the spread of the coronavirus. In June, however, WHO did an about-face and recommended the use of masks based on new scientific findings as the epidemic evolves.

After hearing from both the public and health officials, the EPG voted 5-3 to mandate face masks in restaurants, grocery stores, pharmacies, retail stores and other businesses throughout the county where customers and employees aren't able to maintain social distancing.

County Administrator Mike Merrill also requested that the EPG extend the order to include all county government buildings.

Hillsborough County School Board chairwoman Melissa Snively, Sheriff Chad Chronister and Plant City Mayor Rick Lott voted against the mandate. Both Chronister and Lott expressed concerns about how the order will be enforced.

The order went into effect Wednesday at 5 p.m. However, at Monday's meeting, the EPG plans to discuss making adjustments to the order based on issues raised by business owners concerning enforcement.

The order is in effect for the duration of Hillsborough County's state of emergency unless the EPG decides to rescind it like it did after enacting a curfew in April.

See related stories:

• 3 Days After Enacting, Hillsborough Rescinds Coronavirus Curfew
• Hillsborough Mandatory Mask Order Effective At 5 p.m. Wednesday